Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Buzz your rep on the bus issue
- Race and religion are ‘sensitive’ because Umno feels threatened
- Taking the DNBN Kuburkan BN initiative to the Malay heartlands
- Post GE13 political scenarios-Part 4
| Buzz your rep on the bus issue Posted: 14 Dec 2011 12:59 PM PST UNLIKE most of my contemporaries who signed up for driving lessons as soon as they turned 17, I was a late bloomer. I did not learn to drive till I was way into my 20s and then I did not actually drive until a few months after getting my licence because the Mini Minor I bought blew her gasket when my mate was driving it from the dealer to my house. So for years, getting to and from work meant taking a bus. From the depths of Keramat, I would take a blue Sri Jaya bus to Chow Kit and from there I would take either a yellow No. 12 minibus or a pink No. 30 minibus (Actually its number 39. The Star made a mistake. Just in case there are any mini bus fanatics reading this!) to get to my final destination (both the Sri Jaya bus and the minibuses are now history of course). The whole trip would normally take me an hour and a half. It was pretty tiring just getting to work. The buses were usually full to the brim. If I was fortunate enough to actually get a seat, inevitably there would either be an old pakcik standing next to me tremulously holding on for dear life or, more commonly, a heavily pregnant woman looking at my seat with undisguised longing, her bulging belly gently bumping my head. Needless to say, I would end up standing for the entire journey hanging on to a metal bar as I perched precariously on the outside step of the bus, my Billy Ray Cyrus mullet blowing in the wind. Once, I got to my final stop in such an exhausted state that I knew I would die if I tried to cross the busy street to my office. Being the wise young man I was, I just curled up on the bus stand bench and slept, lulled by the gentle sounds of the mon-soon drain gurgling and the kapchais spluttering. The reason I am reminded of these adventures during my early days in Kuala Lumpur is the news that some bus companies are actually stopping entire routes because they are losing so much money from them.
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| Race and religion are ‘sensitive’ because Umno feels threatened Posted: 14 Dec 2011 10:09 AM PST From young, Malaysians are taught by the BN government that nature has provided a system where we are separated based on our race and the religion that we profess. And when we take a step forward to discuss and query those from different faiths, lines must be drawn and any time someone crosses this line; we must throw up a hand and tell them to back off. We then surmise that the issue is sensitive and no-one is allowed to discuss it. In Malaysia, it is sensitive when the authorities call it sensitive. And no one else has any say. And because of this propaganda and brain-washing, many everyday Malaysians have some hang-up or other about race and religion. Racial and religious polarization is on the rise thanks to the BN's continuous efforts to keep the Malays separated from the non-Malays. The only saving grace is that violence has not broken out despite provocation and threats by groups linked to Umno such as Perkasa and Pekida. Tools of the politicians Really, it is only those in politics who find religion and race a sensitive issue, since both serve as tools for Prime Minister Najib Razak to gain political mileage and to character-assassinate political rivals. One good example of an Umno stirred-up spat is between JAIS and the Christian community. It has allowed Umno and its supporters to claim that Muslims are being turned away from their faith by Christians groups. The Muslims are always portrayed as innocent lambs led to the slaughter by the evil Christians who would not hesitate to stoop to using money and false assistance in order to lure Muslims away from Islam. Yet, to date, the actual number of Muslims turning away from their faith remains under wraps. We only have the word of feverish politicians to go by, with no real facts and figures to read or research. Christians upset The Christians can also call the matter sensitive since their faith is also being questioned and even subjugated to another. A good Christian is called upon to make disciples of men and thus the higher calling takes precedence over rules and regulations put in place by mere mortals. Existing laws are adequate to address an alleged rise in the proselytisation of Muslims, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Jamil Khir Baharom recently, adding that failure to enforce such laws was what needed redress, not the lack of laws. Jamil, the minister in charge of Islamic affairs, was responding to newspaper reports alleging that attempts to convert Muslims were increasing in the country. And this is the state of affairs in Malaysia. Accusations are hurled by top level government officers. Najib himself has led the charge in insinuating a real threat from the Christians – and this directly after an official visit to the Vatican to create diplomatic ties. It is no wonder that Christian leaders here have felt the need to speak out against the government to the foreign media. At the very least, it is a form of self-defense and a real disgrace to the Umno-led BN government. That citizens in Malaysia feel the need to seek protection of the global community shows the type of 'people' leading the government of the day. Until real numbers are shown, all the feverish claims are hearsay and mere whispers that insult Malaysian Christians and infringe on the basic right of a citizen to practice his or her belief. To draw the Sultan of Selangor into the fray was a sad attempt at hiding the ulterior motives of Umno to wrest back Selangor from Pakatan Rakyat's rule. Umno knows, in a straight fight, it is doomed to lose at the ballot boxes. So it plays up the fears of the Malays by telling them that Islam was being trampled on and that they were losing ground because the Christians were proselytizing Muslims in the country. The use of race, as a tool to scare the electorate into voting BN, will surely be used with full effect in all the Pakatan states. Prime Minister Najib Razak gave a hint of this strategy during the Umno General Assembly, which was subsequently echoed by all branches of the Umno political machinery. Ironically, when real issues that threaten Malay rights present themselves; Umno and Perkasa who both insist they are the champions of the Malays and the Malay Rulers remain silent. Take for example the RM100 million suit filed by a Kelantan prince against the police and effectively against the government. Why has Perkasa or Umno not come forward to defend a royal who is seeking justice via the courts of law? Why has Perkasa not come out to take up the Kelantan prince's cause?
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| Taking the DNBN Kuburkan BN initiative to the Malay heartlands Posted: 14 Dec 2011 09:32 AM PST For some time now, we have realised that even as many of us are able to get at the truth as to what is happening in our country, our brothers and sisters in the Malay heartlands, on a daily basis, are fed doses and doses of lies, fear mongering, divisive reports and hate rhetoric by the main stream media. With a view to countering this, over the last 7 months, a team has worked to put together a video documentary to deliver a message to the kampungs : that if we are to save this nation, UMNO and BN must be removed from Putrajaya nad buried. After much brainstorming, we felt that, if nothing else, it was imperative that the following 3 messages reach the Malays in the kampung. Firstly, and most importantly, that UMNO's sloganeering of 'Ketuanan Melayu' is unIslamic, as Islam does not countenance any notions or race supremacy or discrimination on grounds of race or ethnicity. Secondly, that over the last 30 – 35 years, on the pretext of working to help the impoverished Malays, UMNO has hijacked the New Economic Policy (NEP) to enrich its own leaders and their cronies, leaving some 40% f the population living in poverty today. Finally, that contrary to UMNO's claims, UMNO was not the party that fought for independence from the British and that, to this date, by constantly playing up manufactured race and religion issues, UMNO endeavours to keep the people colonised and enslaved whilst they hijack the national wealth. The DNBN KUBURKAN BN DI PRU13 documentary, which is about an hour and 44 minutes long, is, in its content, most complementary of the ASALKAN BUKAN umno initiative to be lauched later tonight.
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| Post GE13 political scenarios-Part 4 Posted: 14 Dec 2011 09:05 AM PST Where do you place Najib and Muhyidin? This article is founded on a belief that UMNO and BN are out in the GE13. Najib will be the opposition leader and Muhyidin will be there too. So what to talk about Najib and Muhyidin? We are all entitled to our own political beliefs. Some call it potatoes, others call it pertatoes, portartoes etc. There is no present or past tense in politics. There's only relevance. Is Razaleigh relevant? In my mind, given the manic and xenophobic stage of our politics, we urgently need political sanity. How do we achieve that? Through a leadership committed to the rule of law, fair play and inclusiveness, democratic and liberal principles. That leadership I believe can be provided by a person of the stature and standing, experience and man of substance like Tengku Razaleigh. Relevance comes with the commitment to immutable principles- a sense of fair play, rule of law, good governance, and jealous observation to democratic principles. It's funny to see judgmental stand on this- Razaleigh is old, yet Mahathir who is in his 80s is waiting in the wings. Because some people think he is relevant. I am old, but Najib and Muhyidin who are older, aren't classified as old. Hence old, young, or whatever is just management of subjective and very personal numerical perception. It depends on how you want to angle it; hence the managed perception has no universal application. It's subjective. A frequent objection to Tengku Razaleigh has been this concerted effort to link him with the infamous BMF affair. As finance Minister at that point in time, he has no involvement at all with the BMF scandal. BBMB was answerable to the PM's office at the time and the person principally responsible over BBMB affairs was Dr Mahathir. Tengku Razaleigh won many defamation cases against international newspapers which attempted to link him with the BMF affair. Local politics at that time, controlled by Dr Mahathir of course, directed local mainstream newspapers to carry but scant reports about Razaleigh successfully clearing his name from any involvement in the BMF affair.
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